FARMVILLE, Va. – Logan Berrier put together a strong start, and Guillermo Garcia, Jr. shined in relief to lead Longwood baseball to a series-opening win on Friday night. The Lancers (18-26, 7-12 Big South) muscled past Radford 7-1 in the first game of three.
 
The final two games of the series will be played Saturday afternoon in a doubleheader due to expected inclement weather on Sunday.
 
SCORE:
 
               R             H            E
RAD       1             7             2
LWU      7             7             2
 
HOW IT HAPPENED:
 
Berrier was the definition of bend-but-don't-break in a solid start on the mound for Longwood. While the Lancer offense took a few innings to get going, Berrier made sure to put up zeroes after Radford (8-35, 0-16 Big South) struck first in the opening inning.
 
The redshirt-junior evaded the big hit in three straight innings after the leadoff man reached, and his ability to keep putting up goose eggs gave the Lancer offense time to find its footing and erase a 1-0 lead.
 
Berrier struck out five in 5.1 innings to earn the win after his patience paid off. He gave up one run on five hits and three walks.
 
Garcia made sure it stuck. He came on after Berrier ran out of gas with the bases loaded in the sixth, and Garcia proceeded to mow down back-to-back batters to escape the jam.
 
He kept on mowing down Highlanders for the rest of the game to earn the save when he finished off the final 3.2 innings. Garcia struck out seven while giving up two hits and a walk without giving up a run. It was his third save of the season
 
Meanwhile, Longwood's offense found some new life in the third inning. Eliot Dix clobbered a 429-foot solo home run off Radford starter Dylan Howard to tie the game at one apiece.
 
The Lancers then put two on with one out in the fifth, and Gregory Ryan, Jr. poked one home with a single for a 2-1 lead. It was his 50^th RBI of the season. He then got caught in a rundown to allow the runner at third to steal home, and he came home on the same play thanks to two Radford errors for a 4-1 lead.
 
The Lancers tacked on three late insurance runs in the last two innings by again being aggressive on the bases.
 
WHAT THEY SAID:
 
"Our pitchers did a great job," said Longwood Head Coach Chad Oxendine. "Logan competed his butt off. He threw 102 pitches today and just kept grinding. Garcia, after having last week off, came back today and threw the ball really well. Both guys had their sliders working really well, and they were pounding the zone with strikes. They both did a fantastic job."
 
"Dix's home run was huge," Oxendine said about the third-inning blast that clipped the tops of the trees over the right field fence. "You go down 1-0 early, and there were a couple innings that went by that we had zeroes, and then he finally gets us on the board. I felt like, once we got on the board, we got rolling and got our spirits back up. This game is a tough, tough game to play, and when you're down 1-0, it kind of stinks. One of our mottos is 'Try to score first', and they beat us there. But Dix's swing got us back in the game."
 
"Base running never slumps," Oxendine said about his team's aggressive approach to running the bases during the game. "We talked about that in the postgame meeting. That's something that is our philosophy here. And we put together a team that can really run the bases well, and that's what we did tonight. We took extra bases, and guys moved up on overthrows, just taking advantage of small mistakes."
 
"We've got exams next week," Oxendine said about what he told the team about Saturday now becoming a doubleheader. "So I told them we've got a doubleheader tomorrow, and then they've got a couple of days off to get ready and prepare for exams. I expect high energy all day long. It's supposed to be a beautiful day here at Buddy Bolding Stadium, so we're going to be excited and play hard and then look at the scoreboard at the end of the day."
 
ADDITIONAL NOTES:
 
Ryan had in his team-leading 50^th RBI of the season.
 
Dix hit his fifth home run of the season.
 
Hayden Harris had an RBI double in the eighth inning. It was his 11^th double of the season.
 
Ryan went 2-4 at the plate, and 10 of his past 13 hits have been for extra bases, including a double in the game.
 
Garcia's seven strikeouts were a career best at Longwood.
 
UP NEXT:
 
The teams will wrap up the three game series with a doubleheader on Saturday. First pitch is set for 1 p.m. for the first game, with the second game beginning roughly 30 minutes following the conclusion of game one. Both games are scheduled to be on ESPN+.
 
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